Prior to joining the UT Haslam’s CMO Accelerator Program faculty, Hankins served for 30 years as a practicing neonatologist and clinical faculty member, including 14 years as Associate Professor of Pediatrics with Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He specialized in neonatal-perinatal medicine and pediatrics. Hankins held two inaugural CMO roles at Texas Children’s Hospital – West Campus and Texas Children’s Hospital – The Woodlands. Hankins also served as Medical Director of Texas Children’s Hospital Community Initiative’s Program. In 2018, The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio (part of CHRISTUS Health) named him president and CMO. In 2022, he became the regional CMO overseeing Medical Staff, Quality, Governance and Risk and participated in strategy for Santa Rosa Health (part of CHRISTUS Health), including five general hospitals and one children’s hospital. Also serving as a CHRISTUS SVP during this time, he participated in creating and establishing system-wide initiatives including physicians leadership programs. He retired from full time work in 2023, but still is involved in consulting and working with the American Academy of Pediatrics on a leadership team project for levels of neonatal care.

After earning his bachelor’s degree from University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and his medical degree from the University of Tennessee Center for Health Sciences in Memphis, Hankins completed his residency in pediatrics at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio and a clinical fellowship in neonatal-perinatal medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. Hankins is a proud alumnus of the inaugural 1998 class of the UT Haslam Physician Executive MBA program.